I tried to get the story behind World Market & Café out of owner Mikhail Galkin. He refused to talk, and instead challenged me to peruse the Eastern European market on Federal Highway in Hollywood, and see if I could find anything familiar. Indeed I did.
I spied sliced pickled red beets, a snack I munched on as a child after school. Cardboard boxes in coolers held smoked trout, their smell and bronze color reminiscent of the smoked white fish my family used to eat on weekends and holiday. There were even small jars of pickled herring in cream sauce, a well-loved snack in my family, but one I won't touch
After proving my bona fides to Galkin he smirked and said "these are like old movies."
"We use old recipes and old [country] ingredients," he added. On one side of the market is a deli counter offering various sausages, cured meats and salads by the pound. The Russian speaking staff shouts over a tall, well-lit glass case to patrons who feed Russian right back. Galkin, originally from Moscow, has owned and operated the market for about five years.
There's also hot food, prepared in house and sold by the pound out buffet style carts. Among them were meatballs in red sauce topped with shredded carrots, chicken shashlik, an Indian kebab, and beef gulyas, a Hungarian goulash. Nearby a cold station offered a variety of cured items and cold salads.
"The people here are in a new country, they've made their home here," Galkin said, "but if they want to see [their old home], if they want to taste it, they come here."
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